'ambergrease' for 'ambergris'

ambergris – 840,000 ghits
ambergrease – 1,760 ”

Ambergris is described as having a waxy (greasy?) feel to it, and whales have been rendered to produce various grades of oil for, amongst other things, lubrication, so there is some association with ‘grease’ I suppose, though I’m not convinced.

... and Dates sliced and stones, of each a half pound, distil it again, and sweeten it with some Sugar-candy, and take of Ambergrease, Pearl, red Coral, ...www.storyoflondon.com/print.php?sid=522 – 39k – Cached

Re: 'ambergrease' for 'ambergris'

Ambergris’ cousin, verdigris, is also spelled as verdigrease, and that going back hundreds of years. The ‘gris’ in the first refers to “grey”, and in the second to “Greek”. Here’s an example from 1829 of a double conflation: http://books.google.ca/books?id=zIJIAAA … 2&f=false.

Incidentally, there was a period of eggcornical confusion between ambergris and amber in the 15th and 16th centuries, according to Wedgwood. The word amber comes from an Arabic word for ambergris. It was subsequently applied to the stone, either as a result of or as a cause of some confusion about their common origin in the depths of the sea.